Ambition above the clouds

Woodland Park searches for its best identity, even if it can't be another Breckenridge

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Up to 40,000 cars may travel through Woodland Park on a Saturday or Sunday. If only their drivers would stop for a novel or cowboy hat.

When dangerous Texas fugitives were discovered hiding out in
Woodland Park in January 2001, a law-enforcement army swarmed the
city.

The national media followed, knowing they had a good story. They
were a little fuzzier about Woodland Park itself. One network TV
reporter described it as "a campground near Denver." Others thought
Woodland Park was simply the RV park where four of the "Texas Seven"
had been caught. The city was labeled a "religious enclave," an
"upscale suburb of Colorado Springs," and "a hamlet of frozen lakes,
retirement cottages and upscale subdivisions."

Residents took both the crime drama and identity crisis in stride.
Scott Downs, owner of Eaglefire Lodge and Conference Center, told the
media repeatedly, "This is that little slice of America that everybody
else is looking for."

But the more Woodland Park grows, the more its leaders seem to want
to make it into something different.

Bigger is better?

For years, residents have sparred over issues related to growth.

In 1994, citizen and business groups proposed four options to
reroute U.S. Highway 24 and ease congestion, but couldn't achieve
consensus. Wal-Mart approached the city a few years later with plans
for a superstore at the edge of town, spurring some residents to
protest; while it was built in 2007, others expressed frustration with
the way the approval was handled.

Over the past 20 years, Woodland Park's population has grown from
4,610 to 7,600. Residential streets have been paved and a chamber of
commerce has moved in. A new middle school's been built and the high
school's gone through a major renovation. There's a new library a
sprawling soccer and baseball complex, and even the area's first
hospital, Pikes Peak Regional. Five stoplights now control a traffic
flow that can approach 40,000 cars a day some weekends.

"My husband grew up here, and he says there's a whole different feel
from when he was here before," says Erin Street, who's raising a
3-month-old son in the city.

And that's before Woodland Station moves in. In 2003, voters living
within a special district approved a $30 million bond referendum that
included the Downtown Development Authority's proposed redevelopment of
21 central acres with motels, shops and restaurants. Proponents
enthused about a "Breckenridge" style of village that would propel
Woodland Park into the future.

The plan has since been downsized to 10 acres and slowed by economic
conditions. Plans now call for mixed use with commercial ground-level
properties and some form of housing, says DDA director Beth Kosley, but
any ribbon-cutting is still years away.

Meanwhile, the Breckenridge comparison has been used by both
opponents and fans of growth. Foes worry the city's rustic appeal would
be overtaken by blocks of upscale lodges. Fans want to spruce up the
place, and welcome building regulations that have made even Wal-Mart
(almost) fit in against the mountain backdrop.

"We have to remember that we don't have a ski resort and we don't
have a river," cautions Steve Randolph, the city's mayor. "So we will
never be Breckenridge."

Still, Randolph sees the city growing into a major hub for the
25,000 residents of the region, stretching to Deckers, Lake George and
Cripple Creek. He also feels the city must appeal more to three
groups.

"There are the people who live here already — we need to find
new ways to get them shopping in local businesses," he says. "There are
also the people who drive through. They are on their way somewhere, but
we need to find new ways to get them to stop. Then there are people who
won't come here without a reason."

Weekend that was

It's the city's challenge to give them reasons, as happened this
summer for one big weekend.

On July 11, Woodland Park celebrated completion of Mainstreet
Makeover, a downtown street-side renovation project made possible by
DDA grants and low-interest loans from Park State Bank. Shoppers could
hear strains of live music coming from an unrelated nearby concert,
where arts booths filled the lawn near the stage. Elsewhere in the
city, more than 900 baseball players, 200 coaches and their families
were coming and going from a national baseball tournament. The topper
was a fireworks show with pyrotechnics left over from a rained-out
Fourth of July event.

More than 5,000 people filled the sidewalks and crammed into retail
shops and restaurants for those different events. With traffic crawling
through, the city did look a bit like Breckenridge.

"It was just serendipity," says Beth Kosley.

She adds: "Could we repeat that kind of day again? I think so. But
we have to continue to work at it."

Looking ahead

Woodland Park remains a resort spot, with more than two dozen
campgrounds nearby and easy access to National Forest land. Having more
than 300 days of sunshine validates the slogan, "City Above the
Clouds."

Debbie Miller, Chamber of Commerce president, says people are
noticing: "When I started here in 2005, about 4,700 people walked
through our door at the visitor center. We are close to 8,000 people
this year."

Miller believes the city's biggest challenge is selling residents on
buying local. With more than 40 percent of residents driving to jobs in
Colorado Springs and Denver, "there's a lot of business done outside
Woodland Park," she says. "But people have made the choice to live here
because of the quality of life. ... The challenge is how to get them to
spend their money here."

Randolph calls that money the city's "economic engine." Jenny
Gawlowski, a Ute Pass native who left for California but returned two
years ago with her husband Matt, hopes the engine doesn't grow too
powerful.

"We love the small-town atmosphere," she says. "We like the fact
that just because of the obvious geographic limitations, it will never
get that big."